There has been a lot of cooking/experimenting going on. However, not a lot of blogging, so here's the first set of a backlog of recipes, starting with a new one and an update.

Still winding my way through Jerusalem cookbook and sabih has emerged as a #MeatlessOneDay winner.

The only challenging ingredient here is getting Zhoug (the spicy green stuff you see in the photo at left), but most Middle Eastern or Mediterranean grocery stores will carry it in the refrigerated section.

If you buy hummus and fresh pita from the Falafel Stop in Sunnyvale, you can get it there as well.

Last week was one of those "Times of Your Life" days--full of middle school, high school and even a college graduation. With all those "Collect the dreams you dream today..." moments, the weekly rotation got taken out, literally.

It was also an odd week where the kids were eating with friends a lot, either here with takeout to feed an army or out getting fed by someone else's parents (Thank you!). So what's cooking this week is a mish-mash of last-week's intentions and lazy summer dinners.

MondayHomemade Kim Chee Spam Musubi with L&L plate lunches. I draw the line at paying $3-$5 for a Spam musubi, but every now and then, we need a decent plate lunch. We had mixed plate, chicken katsu, seafood mixed plate and loco moco, but with chicken katsu instead of the hamburger.

Kim chee Spam musubi is an excellent modification that is best eaten fresh. Like most rice dishes, it get's hard and not-so-sticky-and-just-plain-icky in the fridge.

TuesdayPistachi-zu Tofu Evolved. The problem the first time was that the pistachio crumbs don't stick very well to tofu. This time, we grilled and added some home-grown cucumber and fresh tomatoes for a kind of stacked salad. This is much improved in prep time and visually. Click here for the update, soon to be a Greenhouse graduate.

Pistachi-zu Tofu, Before

Pistachi-zu Tofu, Reconstructed

WednesdayFrom-scratch Pork Loin #1, salad and toasted bread. An easy sandwich for dinner. We again made two pork loins so that my children and their assorted friends will have something to eat during the day.

ThursdayMauna Lani Leftover Chicken Pasta Salad. Because I have two more cucumbers that should be ripe by Thursday. Will likely make a lot of this because it keeps well and it popular with the teenagers.

Extras--measurements posting this week.Passion Lychee Arnold PalmerA friend of mine gave me fresh lychee as well as frozen lychee juice. and another friend gave me a bunch of lemons. All I had to do was make sun tea, add water and mix. Life is good!

Lychee Whipped CreamAnother variation on whipped cream. Just add lychee juice and let the mixer do its thing.

The common theme through all the graduations and requisite graduation speeches was this: it's important to live your life and not just get through it. What a perfect thought to begin the summer.

A couple of days ago, we decided to have a quick Memorial Day BBQ/potluck. As of last night, we hadn't settled on what he would be grilling or anything else, for that matter. And my charming husband is playing golf today.

Thank God for the teenagers. Really and truly.

Left to our own devices, we purged the fridge, went shopping, prepped and have a complete BBQ for 10 or possibly 14 people this evening.

Chicken Shawarma, languishing in spice rub

Here's what we came up with.

Chicken Shawarma with Pita bread and Tahini sauceMade by me and cobbled from mostly Epicurious and AllRecipes. Decided by a second viewing of the Avengers. I don't have cardomom in-house, so I was looking for a cardamom-less version and more guidance than the mysterious "mixed spice" ingredient I also came across.

Snickerdoodles, fresh berries and fresh maple whipped creamTo be made by Teenager #1. These are frozen "Fundraiser" cookies. Perhaps they can be marketed as "Snickerdoodle Shortcakes." I like the sound of that.

Go from zero to full meal for at least 10 in two hours. Now it's time to clean the house.

Despite the provocative title, this is perfectly family-friendly content. First of all, I love whipped cream. By this, I mean any sweet, fluffy, white creamy topping. From scratch, in the aerosol spray can, CoolWhip--all of it.

But lately, I've been experimenting with the from-scratch variety. And I learned that you can add almost any flavor to whipped cream, but some of it definitely works better than others.

Orange-Tangerine Whipped Cream--Good Taste (B+)Flavoring agents are orange-tangerine juice and a little vanilla Torani syrup. Whipped cream that tastes like a creamsicle. Graded at B+ because while it tastes fab, it gets a bit runny after about a day and a half.

Coconut Coffee Whipped Cream--Potential but needs some work (C+)Flavoring agents are coconut coffee and vanilla Torani syrup. Better color than chai whipped cream, but I need to work on the sweet/coffee balance. Has the potential to be great, I think.

Yes, but only barely. First of all, what is maple sugar? It's maple syrup that's reduced down until it's sugar. It has the consistency of very fine sand (think Kailua beach), about 4x as sweet as 'regular' sugar and definitely has a maple-praline-ish flavor. That's the good part. However, the 2.5 cup container I bought at Whole Foods was, wait for it, a whopping $16! Trader Joe's, Costco, Safeway all did not carry it in my area.

Thus, I'm revisiting the maple sugar-based recipes from last week. Plus I found a much cheaper, totally ono and acceptable compromise to add maple flavor to recipes

Maple ginger spice cake, revisited--Based on the very subtle maple flavor, especially compared to the strong molasses flavor, this recipe needs to be revised to switch out maple sugar for brown sugar. It was good, but not worth using maple sugar.

Maple streusel apple pie--The hit for maple here is in the streusel topping. In this case, a good strong maple flavor for the apple pie. Definitely worth using maple sugar here. Feeding My Ohana worthy, confirmed by my friend Arleen, who was our guinea pig.Maple whipped cream--Easily the best, simplest, and most economical way to add maple flavor. Pour about a cup of heavy whipping cream with a about 2T of maple syrup, aand let the Kitchenaid or your hand-mixer do its thing until you get perfectly awesome maple whipped cream. Way, way, way cheaper than maple sugar. Totally Feeding My Ohana-worthy.Watch for new recipes coming this weekend--for the maple streusel apple pie, plus plum sauce chicken, a new roasted chicken and sticky rice w/Portuguese sausage. More easy Hawaii food.